초록 ▼

A method for extracting an underground mineral such as coal, which avoids the need for sending personnel underground and which enables the mining of steeply pitched seams of the mineral. The method includes the use of a narrow vehicle which moves underground along the mineral seam and which is conne

A method for extracting an underground mineral such as coal, which avoids the need for sending personnel underground and which enables the mining of steeply pitched seams of the mineral. The method includes the use of a narrow vehicle which moves underground along the mineral seam and which is connected by pipes or hoses to water pumps at the surface of the earth. The vehicle hydraulically drills pilot holes during its entrances into the seam, and then directs sideward jets at the seam during its withdrawal from each pilot hole to comminute the mineral surrounding the pilot hole and combine it with water into a slurry, so that the slurried mineral can flow down to a location where a pump raises the slurry to the surface. Droplets of liquid carbon dioxide or other suitable material may be added to the water prior to its exit from a jet nozzle on the vehicle, so that as the water pressure drops in movement through the nozzle the liquid carbon dioxide or other material explodes into a vapor to greatly increase the velocity of the water jet.

대표청구항 ▼

A method for extracting a mineral from the ground comprising: applying a stream of liquid under pressure through a conduit having a nozzle directed at the mineral; and introducing a material to flow with said stream in said conduit and out through said nozzle, which is liquid under the pressure of s

A method for extracting a mineral from the ground comprising: applying a stream of liquid under pressure through a conduit having a nozzle directed at the mineral; and introducing a material to flow with said stream in said conduit and out through said nozzle, which is liquid under the pressure of said stream but which rapidly becomes a gas when the surrounding pressure is reduced below a critical pressure for that material, with the environment between the nozzle and mineral being at a pressure below said critical pressure.